From far away
by Ileranerak
Summary: When Naruto and Kakashi are involved in an accident of dimensional proportions, What happens when the first ones to find them are precisely the ones they wanted to see the most, but the feeling is not exactly mutual?.
1. Prologue

Hello! I'm a fanfiction addict from Mexico, as you have already guessed, English is not my mother language. This is my first fic since 2003, when I opened my account here. Since then I've read many, many fics, specially from the Harry Potter, Naruto, Hikaru no Go and Death Note fandoms. My favorite categories or themes being Time-travel, Dimension-Travel and Alternate Universe.

So, if you are reading this, please review and tell me (destructive criticism is NOT appreciated) what I could do to improve, and anything that comes to your mind.

Please keep in mind that I don't have a beta, but if you know someone who is interested in the fandoms and categories I mentioned above, please recommend him/her to me. Also, the update time for this one is going to be pretty irregular, so be warned.

I'm taking 'artistic' liberty to change some minor details, and this will be a Naruto/Minato father/son bonding, possibly a Kaka/Obi (shounen ai) if you don't like it, don't read.

**Disclaimer:** I disclaim, I don't own anything from the Naruto series, just the plot of this FAN-Fiction.

**Summary:** When Naruto and Kakashi are involved in an accident of dimensional proportions, oblivious to the fact that they are now in an alternate Konoha where they are both supposed to be dead, What happens when the first ones to find them are precisely the ones they wanted to see the most, but the feeling is not exactly mutual?.

**Prologue - **

That day I woke up earlier than normal, I jumped up abruptly from my futon and felt a stabbing pain. I gasped, sitting down again involuntarily. My head felt as if it was going to explode, saying I felt dizzy was an understatement. My vision was fuzzy, and when I turned to the alarm clock, I could barely read the intense but blurred red lines that declared it was 5:16 in the morning. I checked my forehead and realized I had a little fever, but that was unimportant at the moment. Being sick was _not_ an option for me. Missions, wars and murders still went on regardless of my health status.

Getting up reluctantly, I headed for the sink in the bathroom, took down my mask and washed my face with ice cold water. I looked down, trying to regain my composure and clear my mind. Red droplets fell down to the water, and flowed down the white sink in a violent crimson spiral. I looked up to see my reflection in the mirror, the same one I tried to ignore everyday by covering my face. My left eye was bleeding, an old wound re-opening. For a few moments my vision turned red and black, and as quickly as it started, the bleeding suddenly stopped.

That was very disturbing indeed, and for that matter: _What was that_? Was it some kind of _sign_?.

I was never one to believe such superstitions as signs from heaven or hell, but I surely believed in curse marks and other nasty outcomes from battling against other shinobi. So I contemplated my options: I could go to the hospital at this ungodly hour, make a scene and end up being scolded by the Hokage, Tsunade-sama over nothing. Or I could wait a few hours and ask her later about this. It didn't seem as serious as I first thought: the bleeding stopped really quickly, and I was starting to feel a lot better after waking up properly. Making up my mind, I quickly rinsed my face, returned to my room and prepared to go out for a walk.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The memorial stone. That's where everybody could find me on moments like this if they knew me well enough. It was no secret that I spent more time here than in my own apartment.

It was a few hours after the incident, I knew I had to go to Tsunade in a few moments, but this place made it difficult for me to leave. The morning was a cold one, and I knew I still had that fever. Cold currents of wind blew against my skin, making me feel as it was on fire.

Just when I decided it was enough and I was about to head to the Hokage's office, I felt a presence hiding amongst the forest on my right. It wasn't difficult to guess who could it be, I could tell he was not really trying to hide. His half-suppressed chakra signature was easy to find, and he was making a lot of noise from under the bushes, his blond hair could be clearly seen from the place I was at without making much effort. If anything, it was as if he _wanted_ to be found.

Sighing, I called out to him – Naruto... – I said with an unimpressed voice – you can come out, I know you're there.

I heard a faint, reluctant laugh, as if he was excusing himself. I could already picture his silly expression, with eyes half closed, a dumb but sincere smile and his arm scratching the back of his head.

He made much more noise as he stepped out from the bushes, and quickly found his way to the memorial stone, his expression exactly as I predicted.

– Hello, Kakashi Sensei – He said.

– Maa, Naruto, Good Morning.– Well, wasn't it rare to see Naruto here?, I asked myself – So, what brings you here to this boring place so early when you could be at Ichiraku's having breakfast or somewhere else causing maelstrom, hmm? – I gave him one of those fake smiles to trow him off. It didn't.

– Well, I...– he paused for a second – Wait a minute, Sensei. What are _you _doing here at this hour? You just said that this place was boring, but you're still here – He replied boldly.

– Eh...– I was at loss. What could I reply to that?. It was a rare thing for Naruto to be this inquiring.

– I mean, Is this where you disappear off to all those times you should be somewhere on time?– he questioned.

– Well, I thought you already knew that – I tried to reply calmly, but his voice was beginning to cause me another headache**– **But now that I think about it, I forgot you were away from Konoha for a couple of years, and when you returned you were put on special missions with Sakura and Tenzo-san. We didn't have much time to talk, didn't we, Naruto?.

His expression changed, and his sky-blue eyes darkened a little. He fixed his gaze on the stone before him. He was pouting. As Shikamaru would say, this was a little troublesome. Maybe it was the time to tell Naruto the actual reason I always showed up late for everything. I owed it to him for paying more attention to Sasuke than him in their genin years, after all.

– I always come here when I feel there's too much on my head, and I don't exactly want to be alone. Sometimes I lose track of time, and that's why I end up being late. I know excuses are not acceptable, but still, the only thing that comes to my mind on those moments are the lousy excuses he used to make up- I stared at the spot where his name was written – I'm rambling too much, right? – I smiled at him.

– Was he one of your former teammates?– Naruto asked, looking at me with that gaze that reminded me so much of Sensei. I felt something cracking on my chest, but ignored it, and instead I just nodded.

The sunlight started to increase in intensity, and suddenly the place was so quiet that the only sounds I could hear was the falling of the leaves and my own heartbeat. Then, Naruto kneeled down the rock monument and ran his fingers through the carved names.

– I had no idea, I – I didn't expect anyone to be here, but I wanted to find...I expected to find his name here– He finished in a whisper.

I knew what he meant. I reacted in a similar way the first time I came here to look up his name. But Sensei's name was not engraved on that rock. I wondered why after making sure it was not there, checking name after name, so I went to the third Hokage and asked him.

– Let me guess, you have come here several times, and haven't found it yet?– He nodded, and looked up at me, waiting for an answer, I knew he was distressed, so I went on – I asked Sarutobi-sama once, a few months after The Incident. You see, Sensei was not an ordinary person, nor an ordinary Hokage. The reason his name is not engraved on this rock is because there's already the Hokage monument. Both of their names are engraved on a plaque up there.

– A plaque? But I always go up there, and I have never seen any plaque!.– protested Naruto.

– Yeah, well. You were always too hyperactive and dense to notice anything like that in your academy years. But you see, Naruto, the Hokage monument is there to remind us of heroes, of great people who saved million of lives giving up their own. It is a monument to sacrifice, and devotion to the village. Minato sensei was a great Hokage and a great shinobi. – I could clearly see the Hokage monument, it was like a miracle that it remained intact after the attack of Pain a few months ago. Naruto was also looking in that direction, as if he could see those people and even beyond them.

– But that's not everything he was. The few of us who knew him in person, we saw his kindness, his strength, his weaknesses...We all know that he was much more than all that.

And we all realized that after he was gone, I thought. After the realization that we couldn't see nor talk to those people that mattered anymore, that's when most of us came into our senses. But most of times, it was too late. And that made me feel like a failure, to have failed them, my teammates and my important ones when they needed me the most was the thought that plagued my mind all of my life.

– "Look around you. Without the people of Konoha, without the _Will of Fire_, these monuments are nothing but empty rocks. Our heroes, families, teammates and even our enemies: for them the best monument and memento is the one we keep inside ourselves, to keep them with you and never forget. Even if our homes are crushed, our buildings smashed down and our heroes long dead, the _Will of Fir_e will keep on living in each and every Konoha Citizen. That is our strength and our hope to pass on to future generations." That is what the Third told me when I asked him about Sensei – I told Naruto. In his sad expression it was clear that he was remembering the Third. They always were really close. – So, even if their names are not physically carved on this rock, the _Will of Fire_ that lived within them is now with you, wherever you go, always.

For some reason this kind of sentimental speech always left me exhausted, but today,adding that to my fever and growing headache was taking its toll in me.

– Keh, you are right, Sensei! – Said Naruto, looking ar me with a relaxed smile– I know why they did it. It was so they could give the village and me a future, They told me they lived a happy life, no matter what until the end. And I will do the same, live my life to the fullest, with no regrets until the day we can meet again– He frowned, then– It's just that sometimes I wish that I could have been more time here, that they were still _here_.

I understood what he meant, ans I honestly wished for the same.

– I know– I murmured, and turned my eyes to that name on the memorial – Obito...

Immediately after that, I felt a stabbing pain on my left eye. So intense and so sudden, that I fell into my knees. Naruto Hurried over, placed a hand on my shoulder and asked:

– Sensei! What's wrong?

– I...I-I'm not feeling ok– was the only coherent response I could give him.

– Do you need me to call somebody? , Or take you to Baachan?– He asked with a very concerned voice.

– I think that..– The pain was so intense that I stopped talking midway, and my hands started shaking. I could feel the blood running through my face, from my left eye. No, from Obito's eye.

Seconds later, my chakra began to feel unstable, I could hear Naruto shouting something, but I couldn't understand it. I felt...Detached.

My chakra started to let on power surges, creating strong gusts of red and black wind that carried dust and pebbles from the ground. A second kind of red, violent energy was incorporating itself to the phenomenon.

I looked at Naruto, who seemed terrified, and realized how close he actually was. He was using his hands to keep me looking at him in the eyes.

–What the?... Sensei! Look at me, Sensei, please!– he was desperate to get a response out of me.– I already sent a kage-bunshin to fetch Baachan, just hold on!.– I looked up and realized we were inside a chakra barrier, it's size fluctuating dangerously.

The chakra surges were random, and appeared to be disintegrating everything they touched. I came at the dawning realization that it was my Mangekyo. It was activated and uncontrollable, but the second kind of energy came from Naruto himself, and whatever was the cause, it was powering up somehow the ability of my Mangekyo and quickly draining Naruto's chakra. We tried to break free, but it was useless, We were at the eye of the storm.

And as sudden as it started, it all came to a halt. After watching Naruto lose consciousness before me, my vision turned black, and then there was nothing.


	2. Chapter 1

I did say the updates would be pretty irregular, didn't I? Well, this is a little too much even for me. Still, I'm posting an update even if it's short. This entire chapter is in Obito's POV. I hope I'm not dragging this too much. I have a couple chapters planned in my head, but not that far ahead, nor an ending or anything. Please tell me your thoughts on the story in general and anything that you can think of to improve this a bit. Constructive advice only, please.

**Chapter 1**

Back from another mission. Instead of returning to an empty apartment, I decided to wander the city after handing over the report to sensei. He seemed more tired than usual this time too, but that could just be me over thinking again. Slight and almost nonexistent signs of bags under the eyes, even the brief feeling of abnormal behavior and change in demeanor were the kind of things I checked over almost automatically, and it would only be logical it was because I've known him for such a long time that I can tell when something's wrong with him – he's not called a genius for nothing, he can conceal every emotion almost effortlessly, surely a sign and requirement of a formidable shinobi-.

But ever since that day I am aware of how fragile a human can be when loneliness and regrets get a hold of your mind. And no matter how long you conceal your true emotions and maintain a stoic face, no matter how strong your mask is, we shinobi are human after all: it makes no difference if you are a genin or a kage, sometimes the dams restraining your mind just break. And that's what happened to her, at least that's what I think. Now there's only sensei and me left from the original team 7.

We arrived a couple of hours ago, the boys just left me and went on to do whatever they do on their spare time. Knowing them, they could head home and train, but might choose to waste their time on other frivolous activities. Sai might work on that secret notebook of his, I don't know exactly much about him. Sasuke does nothing but train anyway, unless he has some embarrassing hidden hobby I haven't been able to discover yet -which I will someday-. Sakura will surely hang out with her friends sharing the most recent rumors and all that girl stuff I better ignore for the sake of my mental health. Better avoid them at all costs, that Yamanaka girl can be a little nasty when she wants to.

The truth is that it's a relief having a moment of peace like this after a week away from Konoha with the team. Don't misunderstand, they're a great team, I'd trust them with my life. But Sai and Sasuke's silent competition, Sakura's extreme squeals over the most minor accidental provocation on Sasuke's part, and their overall constant disregard for the most basic safety rules just drive me crazy. I keep telling myself that there's nothing wrong with the team, that their teamwork and performance in each mission is more than enough and they are quickly improving, and steadily rising in the ninja ranks, but in reality we all know it's not the same without him – the number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja – Namikaze Naruto.

It's been four years already- since that day, I mean. Sai was not a part of the team back then, and in the beginning he was a little slow in understanding that it was a taboo subject for Sakura and Sasuke. Now that his social skills are slowly but steadily improving, he has a little more tact and avoids talking about the past of the team. Still, that won't make him desist in his subtle attempts to drive Sasuke crazy with his sexual innuendos and false naivety.

Sasuke wouldn't want to admit it, but since then he has come to value the role of every shinobi, not as part of the system buy as individuals. He blames himself because he was there when it happened and it was defending him that Naruto was heavily wounded. He knows he would have survived the blow he took in his stead because of the kyuubi's healing abilities. Naruto didn't know about that since it was an S-rank secret, and only those who were shinobi back then would know.

Even tough sensei gave Sasuke the opportunity to share the truth with his heam, he never did and still hasn't. The clan had made him believe in the supremacy of the Uchiha over civilians and shinobi alike: honor, courage and discipline was something every person should have, and that should be a priority to be kept over any emotion. There was no room for anything else, and he was expected to act as the clan leader ordered, since he was the only hold the clan had over the entire village: he was the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. It was his duty, and it was the only way of living he knew, that is until he met Naruto.

At first they hated each other. Naruto was raised in a very different environment, everywhere he went he was treated like he was made of exquisite and fragile glass, for he was the Hokage's only son. He was a really happy and hyperactive little monster. I got to babysit him more times than I could endure.

I think he knew there was something different from him and the other kids. For starters he didn't have a mother, but he noticed it was a painful subject to sensei, and he didn't want to trouble him asking about her. Sensei was so busy all the time because of the negotiations, threats and invasion attempts from other villages, plus the eccentricities of the clan leaders of Konoha and their outrageous practices to ensure the secrecy of their bloodline that he barely had the time to see his own son a few hours after returning home. Even then, when I was in the ANBU and didn't have as much time as I would have wanted to spend some time with him, I could tell he tried to hide his disappointment by putting the biggest smile he could muster on his little face and promptly changing the subject. Naruto didn't know how to handle his frustrations and energy, so he started playing pranks and causing mayhem everywhere he went. People didn't scold him and never told him to stop, sensei was the only one he ever listened to. As he grew up he came to the dawning realization that all these people only cared for him because of his father. All the fake smiles, special treatment, kind words and gifts of the civilians, the kindness of the high ranked shinobi appointed as his bodyguards and even other kids in the academy – it wasn't because of him but because they wanted to look good in the eyes of Hokage-sama-. So it began there, Naruto's journey to become someone people respected for himself, someone they looked up to.

Naturally their worlds clashed and yet the similarities between them made them curious of each other, for they desired what the other already had. They started fighting, daring each other to go further, to grow stronger. Sometimes they argued, and exchanged childish insults and provocations. It was a rivalry but at the same time a bond of friendship strong enough to remain even when one of them wasn't there anymore.

So when the mission to wave got dangerous enough to be considered an A rank mission, I suggested to resign and return to Konoha since it was out of the question to allow a genin team to even try it.

_– "I'll never go back on my word_, because that's my ninja way".

His words had an impact on us, for the first time Sakura agreed with him, Sasuke's pride about being a shinobi was brought into question and we decided to stay and get over with the mission. Everything seemed to be fine, that is, until the real battle began. Sakura took an interest in medical ninjutstu after the incident. She felt guilty about the way she treated Naruto, and she felt useless when she couldn't help him in the most crutial moment. She asked me to teach her what I knew about med nins, which I did, tough I am no expert.

Normally as a team we are functional but there's too many secrets, to many regrets and burdens. We tolerate each other and behave as it is expected of one of the Hokage's most trusted shinobi teams, but in the end I know our team will always be a broken one and a failure just as it's jounin leader.

I know four years should have eased the guilt and the pain already. Sensei says it's not my fault and that he doesn't blame me. But I blame myself. For my negligence. Even after all this time I was not strong enough to save one of my important people.

Sensei's become more strict than ever, he is truly a great leader and an example for the Fire Country. Sometimes I can catch a glimpse of him looking down to the village from his own head at the Hokage monument. I've never dared to approach on those occasions, tough I know for sure he is aware of my presence. He's never told me to leave him alone, so that's go to be a good sign. This village is the only thing he's got left. And me but, well. I'm just me, and that's never been enough for anyone. Still, as long as he's there, I will too. I will give my all even if that's not enough.

I don't know why but I want to go to that place now. I'm sure if he had been there, it wouldn't have happened. Sensei would be back to his old self, and everything would be better. I ask myself the same thing over and over: would it really make a difference if it was him the one that survived that time?

Still, I'm pretty sure that if he was in my situation, he would go on with his life, and not keep living in the past, like I do. Talking to an empty rock as if those who aren't there could hear me. I lost track of time, it could have been minutes or a couple of hours. My back was telling me it was the later, anyway I was too tired right now. The only thing I wanted to think about was the long, warm bath I was taking as soon as I got home.

Just as I took a step forward to head back to my apartment, I felt a chakra disturbance in the environment. It began like a small ripple, quickly growing in power and size. A strong wind began to stir and levitate the dust and little rock fragments nearby. The leaves on the trees began to shake furiously, and soon I could feel three different chakras intertwining and emanating from some kind of fissure I couldn't pinpoint the exact location of, but it was quite near. Too near for my own comfort.

Red and black chakra in violent gusts of wind that created a dust screen preventing me to take a good look at the center of the disturbance. That's when I noticed I could recognize the distinctive demonic chakra signature of the kyuubi, and two other familiar chakra I couldn't remember at the moment. I wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me this. But I was there, and I could feel the Kyuubi's chakra coming from two different sources: A faint, dormant one at the Uchiha district which was most likely Sasuke, and another one fierce, uncontrollable and Oh so very real! coming from a few meters ahead of me.

I could hardly distinguish the silhouette of two shinobi as the disturbance disapeared as abruptly as it started, leaving no evidence it happened in the first place other than the two unconscious shinobi laying on the rock-cold surface of Konoha's memorial stone.


End file.
